Jaime Lyerly Art : process

Showing posts with label process. Show all posts

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Jaime's going to Haystack!

Haystack's photo of the week for this week. A view of Haystack of Haystack from Jericho Bay, August 2010.
See more photos at this link: http://www.haystack-mtn.org/gallery.php

I flipped through the pages of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Summer workshop catalog in January 2010, and my breath caught as I see the words “Encaustic Painting.” (If you haven't heard yet, encaustic is pigmented beeswax and damar resin that is applied hot to a surface. Encaustic means to burn in).

At San Diego State University (SDSU), where I am finishing my BA in Art: emphasis sculpture, minor in Psychology, there is one scholarship awarded to a student from the Applied Design program to attend Haystack for a summer session.

While the scholarship was awarded to a graduate student, the idea to attend this outstanding school was firmly planted in my brain. I gathered images, updated my resume, made a list of my technical abilities, and sent emails to my amazing and overworked professors to request letters of recommendation.

Having two years of experience working in encaustic and a few encaustic-teaching gigs under my belt, I told myself “I can do this!”

So I applied for the Technical Assistant Scholarship to the “Hot Wax: Encaustic Painting Comprehensive” taught by R & F Instructor Cynthia Winika – and, you guessed it, I won!

Now it is the second week of August, and the time has finally come!

I am leaving this Saturday, August 14, 2010 on an overnight flight for two weeks of intensive study of encaustic painting on the coast of Maine!

Some of the artists who have attended Haystack tell me that it was a momentous time of growth.

SDSU MFA ceramics graduate Kelly Schnorr told me that during her time as a Technical Assistant at Haystack that everyday she woke up thinking she was in heaven.

I know I am in for a life-changing experience.

Haystack sums it up:

The unique experience to be found at Haystack is owed to the combination of internationally-renowned instructors, intensive and focused studio time, the exploration of other art forms including music, poetry and dance, a diverse student body, and an award-winning campus. Students live, eat and work at the school, and studios remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Are you jealous, yet? I would be too!

The workshop description for Cynthia Winika’s Hot Wax: Encaustic Painting Comprehensive gives you a clue to what is in store:

Encaustic (beeswax) painting, derived from the legendary painting of the ancient Greeks, is one of the most versatile, durable, and beautiful painting media. After being out of use for 2000 years, it has made a recent resurgence. This workshop will provide a basic understanding of sound technique, safe studio practice, and show the many ways of using the paint and medium. Preparation of supports, thermal properties of encaustic paint, fusing, and demonstration of a wide variety of painting, layering, collage, solvent free image transfer, and mixed media techniques will be incorporated. Slide presentations will include information about the history of encaustics, 20th century revivals, and contemporary artists working with encaustic. All levels welcome.

As the technical assistant for this workshop, I have a unique position in that I am able to attend the workshop, help the instructor, do a presentation about my work, exhibit two pieces in their show, and work on my own art during the free time. All this and meals included!

I am more than looking forward to enjoying all this experience has to offer. I have never had two weeks away from my partner and thirteen-year-old son to be able to focus on my art, so this gift of time is especially moving.

Yet the excitement of having two weeks to work in wax has me all aflutter as I pack my supplies that I want to bring it all!

I just found out that the encaustic supplies are included in the studio fee, but I still need to pack my own panels, papers, and tools. It is a few days before I leave and still packing up and pairing down what I need to bring.

Bottom Line - Two weeks in Maine with studio time devoted to encaustic painting? Heavenly.

Want to hear more about it? Great! I don't expect to have much computer time while I am there, but I will write up an “After Haystack” post including experiential pictures and studio shots that I know you want to see.

Until then, you can pop over to my Facebook page or Twitter and send me a “Good luck at Haystack” message or share some “I heart Haystack” stories and tips!

Looking forward to sharing my experience with you! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Monday, May 10, 2010

"Repeat. Sum. Repeat." Installation Experience - part one

Just wanted to let you all know that I am still working hard on my installation in room Art 418C at San Diego State University with Experimental Musician Chris Miner called "Repeat. Sum. Repeat."

Last Saturday was supposed to be the informal opening, but we were still installing all day and night, so there was not much to see.

This Tuesday, 5/11/2010, all the installation will be complete and the room should be open from 12 pm until 3 pm, and more hours as requested.

Thanks to Joyce and Will for stopping by on Saturday. They got to see all the pieces spread about, but not installed. However, they were very understanding!

Thanks to Gwyneth Mapes for coming by on Sunday, and giving me such an honest opinion of the installation as a whole.

Huge thanks to Starry Wright, Chris Miner and my son, Xen, for helping me install.

A few lessons from this installation experience, so far.

SDSU parking enforcement will still give you a $40 parking ticket, even if you are quickly unloading your car, and they haven't printed the ticket.
Expect to move boxes in and out of the room all day for a couple of days.
Bring other people to talk to! On Friday, I kept leaving the room to seek out interaction with people.
Prepare your artist statement and tags before hand.
Don't expect that the room will be set up with lights and power needed.
Sound installation needs more preparation than expected and should be laid out visually before any art is installed.
Pedestals are pretentious, but needed to differentiate the works, unless prepared before hand.
Purchase all hardware, extension cords and food before installation day.
It is much harder to install older pieces and make new work at the same time. Don't pressure yourself into doing more than you can handle.
Installation is exhausting!

I will have lots of pictures coming soon, video of the pieces including the sound collage by Chris Miner. Stay tuned for more!

Thanks for joining me on this journey! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Monday, April 26, 2010

Thread Sketches - Process and Elaboration

In my post, Thread Sketches - Exploration of Universal Symbols through Machine Embroidery, I gave you a peek at some of my newest non-encaustic / fiber related work.

Now, I want to show you a little of the process and the elaboration that has occurred with these pieces. First, the process.

I was inspired by drawing/carvings on leaves done by Ana Mendieta whom I wrote a research paper on recently.

To give you a taste of this work, here are some of the leaves scanned from the book Ana Mendieta: Earth Body by Olga M. Viso.

Leaves by Ana Mendieta, from Ana Mendieta: Earth Body by Olga Viso

I started my exploration with machine embroidery on fresh magnolia leaves.

Fresh Magnolia Leaves

Here is me working on the leaves (with my freshly dyed purple hair and purple finger tips).

Here are the finished projects two days after they were completed. They have already began to lose their coloring around the stitches.

Machine Embroidery

I then started hand embroidering and pricking designs on the leaves at home. These took much longer than the machine embroidery, but were easier to control.

I could embroider through thicker and bigger leaves with this technique.

Hand Embroidery

This leaf was scanned in about a week after it was done. The white slowly covered the entire area that had been pricked or manipulated.

The back side of the leaves look different than the front.

I continued this exploration of hand embroidery about a week later, shaping them into forms with the thread.

I used a variety of techniques on these leaves.

We began needle felting in my fiber class, which is using wool roving and a barbed needle to puncture the roving through felt.

Here is a short video on needle felting by artist and author Rice Freeman-Zachery called Needle Felting 101

To learn more about needle felting, you can check out Outback Fibers which is where we get the roving.

After a few tests on felt, I knew that this technique would work on my magnolia leaves.

Needle Felted

Here is how this Thread Sketch changed over a week.

I liked how the felt looked like it was growing out of the leaves, so I enhanced that by punching the felt on the "wrong" side.

So what did we learn?

You can embroider or needle felt through anything that you can get the needle in
Natural materials change over time in interesting ways
Anyone can do embroidery or needle felting!
Experimentation is GOOOOD!

That last one is the reason I write this blog - to support other artists by showing them my experiments in hopes that they will be inspired to create.

Your Turn:
Experimented with any new media or techniques recently? Ever tried embroidery or needle felting on something other than cloth? I would love to hear about it! Leave your comments here and share it with us.

Happy experimenting! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Thread Sketches - Exploration of Universal Symbols through Machine Embroidery

Fiber has becomes an important part of my art recently.

It has opened a new world of art making with a meditative and repetitive process that keeps my hands busy making while my mind is off somewhere else.

Here is the short story of how I got to this point. Read on and be inspired!

Over the summer, I started to intuitively knit sculpture using a loom while the San Diego heat blazed on. It was a savior for me to be able to make something when it was too hot to turn on my encaustic wax.

Every time I would heat up my encaustic wax outside, I questioned my sanity! You don't want to know how miserable I was during this heat. All I wanted to do was make something that didn't require a heat gun.

Knit, knit, knit. I made odd shapes in soft, blood red yarn. They looked like shirt sleeves that morphed into pig organs. But they were fun to make.

So next semester, I enrolled in a Fibers class at San Diego State University which worked with my schedule, which was Fiber Surface Design. Can you imagine my surprise when this class expanded my view of art completely?

Since I have been studying "fine art" at SDSU, I was ignorant of a whole world of contemporary art which is normally shoved under the category of Craft.

My instructor, Kathryn Harris, is an amazing and has opened my eyes to a world where art and craft not only tolerate each other, but actually work together to create art that is unique. Thrilling, right?

So I have a new body of work that is fiber without encaustic wax that I am not sure where it fits into my portfolio. But it is so exciting, I have to share it with you! Here we go...
__________________________________

Thread Sketches - Exploration of Universal Symbols through Machine Embroidery

Machine embroidery is new to me.

Two months ago, I learned how to hand embroider in Kathryn Harris' Fiber Surface Design class and I love it. It is slow and repetitive. It can be painstakingly exact and rigid.

But it can also be fluid and intuitive. I have replaced my pencil and paper with needle and thread.

So when we moved from the hand to the sewing machine, I was not excited. Why would I want a machine to do the work for me? Because a machine can do what I cannot.

What is free-motion machine embroidery? It is embroidery that can be done with a sewing machine that uses a foot that allows you to move the fabric all around instead of just front to back.

Check out this quick, un-intimidating video by author Rice Freeman Zachery which shows free-motion machine embroidery as an easy way to add decoration.

Free-motion embroidery on a sewing machine is just another tool for expression.

I took scraps of fabric and using the free-motion embroidery foot on the sewing machine, drew on the fabric the universal vagina symbol. I made some more.

The top thread and the bobbin thread are different which makes the front and the back of the piece look different. I love the duality.

White on black. Black on white. White and gray on black. White and gray on white. Black and gray on black. Black on black. The possibilities with only three hues...

I hung them on the wall with pins like my fiber and encaustic sculptures "Fibrous Waximus". Still wasn't sure what to do with them. So made some more.

I made some thread lace using Solvy which is a water soluble plastic wrap. You take one piece of solvy, put some threads on top, then another piece of solvy on top of that. Then you sew through all layers. Rinse the solvy off of the piece and all that remains is the thread.

After showing them to Kathryn, she suggested I try machine embroidery on Solvy. That opened even MORE possibilities.

After doing research on Ana Mendieta for my Contemporary Latin American Art class, I was inspired by her Silueta series.

Ana Mendieta Silueta Series

I made a small homage in machine embroidery to compliment her large scale outlines of the human body.

I embedded a small leave in the belly of the figure to hint at the natural world.

I made another...

Inspired by these, I decided to further my homage to Ana Mendieta by doing machine embroidery on actual leaves.

Mendieta did drawings by piercing on green leaves of universal and feminine symbols. She embraced the changes in the leaves from green to brown.

These have already changed colors, and curled since I first made them on Saturday, and when I scanned them on Sunday. How do you think they will change?

See those gray spots on the left side in between the stitches? Those were not there on Saturday when the leaf was fresh and full of juices.

So what did we learn from this experiment?

Art or Craft? Both? Either way, it is a new way to work
Machine Embroidery is easy to do
Thread lace and solvy are more tools to use
You can bend and break the rules of what is fiber
Inspiration comes from many sources
and for me...Not everything in my artist portfolio NEEDS to be covered in encaustic wax!

I titled these "Thread Sketches" because that is really what they are. A sketch without paper and pencil, and a new way to work.

Your Turn:

I would love to hear what you think! Experienced in the ways of the sewing machine? I bow to your expertise. Always wanted to try free-motion embroidery? Let me know if this helps you to get started.

Happy sketching! ~ Jaime Lyerly